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What are the requirements for car rental insurance in the USA and Canada?

The car hire insurance requirements in the US and Canada explained.

This really depends on whether you have hired your car from a European or American broker. This is due to American car hire companies giving less coverage generally than its European counterparts.

If you are hiring a car in the USA or Canada, either on an American or Canadian website or by going straight into a car rental station in the USA or Canada, you have the choice of hiring a car that is either inclusive or exclusive of insurance. You occasionally find similar offers through UK comparison websites.

Car rental without any insurance cover is available because nationals of those countries can often use their normal car insurance policy to cover rented vehicles. The insurance which you, as a non US / Canadian citizen, must buy is Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) / Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) (covering the damage, theft and loss of use of the hired vehicle). This will be offered at the car rental counter and generally costs between US$20 and US$30 a day. Normally US and Canadian policies do not levy an excess although damage to windows, tyres, the undercarriage and the roof is not covered.

Additionally, seriously consider whether you also need top up liability insurance - available here as 'Supplementary Liability Insurance'. As you can see from the table below, in some parts of the Americas the legal minimum level of liability insurance cover that car rental firms need to provide can be as low as a totally insufficient $25,000. If you were found at fault in any reasonably serious accident this could leave you personally liable for a huge bill. To protect yourself you can take out a 'Supplementary Liability Insurance' policy which will top up the local cover to $1,000,000 or more. Be aware that the first claim should be on the local car rental policy and then, only if this is insufficient, on the SLI policy. You can buy a policy covering both CDW and SLI for a trip of 60 days for as little as £85 through the MoneyMaxim car hire insurance service so buying this type of insurance is really not very expensive at all - as long as you don't rely on your car hire company. For more information on the level of SLI cover provided, please visit our SLI/CDW policies page.

Here's a brief summary of the legal minimum liability limits by state. They're mostly shown with separate amounts for bodily injury to each person, all bodily injury & property damage for each accident or some (mostly Canadian states) as a single Combined Single Limit to cover all liability. All figures are shown in $1000's. So for example in California, the minimum cover for a single person being injured would be just $15,000 with the total for all bodily injuries being $30,000 and only $5,000 in property. So don't have an accident with a film producer with his lawyer wife & children in the Lexus.

State

Bodily Injury Per Person

Bodily Injury Total

Property Damage

Combined Single Limit

Alabama

25

50

25

0

Alaska

50

100

25

0

Alberta

0

0

0

200

Arizona

15

30

10

0

Arkansas

25

50

25

0

British Columbia

0

0

0

200

California

15

30

5

0

Colorado

25

50

15

0

Connecticut

20

40

10

0

Delaware

15

30

10

0

District of Columbia

25

50

10

0

Florida

10

20

10

0

Georgia

25

50

25

0

Hawaii

20

40

10

0

Idaho

25

50

15

0

Illinois

25

50

20

0

Indiana

25

50

10

0

Iowa

20

40

15

0

Kansas

25

50

10

0

Kentucky

25

50

10

0

Louisiana

15

30

25

0

Maine

50

100

25

0

Manitoba

0

0

0

200

Maryland

30

60

15

0

Michigan

20

40

10

0

Minnesota

30

60

10

0

Mississippi

25

50

25

0

Missouri

25

50

10

0

Montana

25

50

10

0

Nebraska

25

50

25

0

Nevada

15

30

10

0

New Brunswick

0

0

0

200

New Hampshire

25

50

25

0

Insurance not mandatory for locals

New Jersey

15

30

5

0

New Mexico

25

50

10

0

New York

25

50

10

0

Bodily limits doubled for death

Newfoundland

0

0

0

200

North Carolina

30

60

25

0

North Dakota

25

50

25

0

Northwest Territories

0

0

0

200

Nova Scotia

0

0

0

500

Ohio

25

50

25

0

Oklahoma

25

50

25

0

Ontario

0

0

0

200

Oregon

25

50

20

0

Pennsylvania

15

30

5

0

Prince Edward Island

0

0

0

200

Quebec

0

0

0

50

Rhode Island

25

50

25

0

Saskatchewan

0

0

0

200

South Carolina

25

50

25

0

South Dakota

25

50

25

0

Tennessee

25

50

15

0

Texas

30

60

25

0

Utah

25

65

15

0

Vermont

25

50

10

0

Virginia

25

50

20

0

Locals resident can pay $500 fee in lieu of insura

Washington

25

50

10

0

West Virginia

20

40

10

0

Wisconsin

25

50

10

0

Wyoming

25

50

25

0

Yukon

0

0

0

200

Massachussetts

20

40

5

0

All figures expressed as US$000

Details researched as at 29th November 2016 - correct to our best belief.

If you book your US rental in the UK, or on a UK (.co.uk website), the car rental agreement will generally (but not always) include cover for Third Party, Collision Damage Waiver and Theft. An excess is not normally charged in the US, although this practice is changing. You will, as the hirer, be responsible for damage to windows, tyres, the undercarriage and the roof. As car rental agreements do differ, please check the details of your rental agreement carefully so that you understand exactly what cover is being offered.

You can obtain policies covering either full CDW or SLI or worldwide excess policies (both of which also cover damage to windows, tyres, the undercarriage and the roof) through the MoneyMaxim car hire insurance service

Moneymaxim aims to inform its visitors through its journalistic sourced
information, but things change rapidly in our market and we cannot guarantee
everything will be perfectly up to date. Please do be aware you use the
information at your own risk, that the information provided is not financial
advice and that your own independent research is essential to make sure that any
product or service used is right for your circumstances. We cannot accept
liability for any decision you take as a result of information provided on
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